Edward James Olmos & Isaiah Washington Star In John Sayles’ Next Film ‘Go For Sisters’

Edward James Olmos & Isaiah Washington Star In John Sayles' Next Film 'Go For Sisters'

John Sayles is still churning out films on a fairly regular basis, and his most recent effort “Amigo” got its limited release in theaters in August last year. Starring Chris Cooper, Garret Dillahunt and Dane DeHaan (“Chronicle”), the film was moderately well received, but grossed a tiny $184k from its release on a maximum of 10 screens. To say it was small would be an understatement. But such is the state of financing these days where guys like Sayles are left on the sidelines. But, keen to keep his fanbase updated with plans for his next film, Sayles has taken to his blog to speak about his upcoming 18th feature.

“Go For Sisters” is its name, and Sayles told readers of his site that he’ll be shooting it this summer and will be updating them with behind-the-scenes pictures and information throughout the process. So that’s what we can look forward to, but what do we know about the film itself? Here’s what Sayles was “authorized to release”:

“The plot concerns two friends, Bernice and Fontayne, who grow up so close they ‘go for sisters’, but then lose track of each other for twenty years. They are reunited when Bernice is assigned as the parole officer for Fontayne, who is fresh out of prison and fighting heroin addiction. But Bernice has an even more threatening problem—” The film will shoot over a four week period from mid-July on a budget of under a million dollars.

Sayles has lined up a fairly solid cast which includes Edward James Olmos, LisaGay Hamilton, Yolonda Ross, Hector Elizondo and (as Shadow & Act reveals) Isaiah Washington. The blog goes on to add that “this will be a return to the guerilla style of filmmaking familiar to Sayles from his early 80’s films ‘Return of the Secaucus Seven,’ ‘Lianna‘ and ‘Brother from Another Planet.’ ” It sounds like another small-scale release for Sayles whose last mainstream cinema contribution was his work on the screenplay for the underrated “The Spiderwick Chronicles.” We’re not sure many of us will get a chance to see this in theaters (especially those of us not based in the U.S.) but we’re sure if it lives up to its promise and the talents of its cast then we’ll all be seeking it out on-demand before long.